| OH SHITTU! RANGERS CRASH OUT
AGAIN
The season has now really started in earnest as
Rangers have found themselves dumped out of the Worthington Cup in
the first round. What the bloody hell have we got to do to get
anywhere in this cup?
Holloway had changes forced on him
following the crushing 4-0 victory at
Mansfield
. Royce and Thomas were both cup-tied, Bircham and Bean were both
suspended and Furlong had managed to collect his first injury.
This meant that Fraser Digby came in
fir his first appearance of the season. Matthew Rose returned in
midfield and was joined by Steve Palmer to allow Clarke Carlisle a
start at the back. Connolly started as did Thomson and Pacquette
with Gallen dropping to the bench.
Things started relatively brightly and
Thomson forced an excellent save out of Glenn Morris
in the Orient goal. Meanwhile for the O's, Jamal Campbell-Ryce
was giving Tommy Williams a real chasing. Williams is starting to
prove that he isn't much of a fullback and Murphy and Padula must be
starting to wonder what they have to do to forge ahead of him.
Rangers also went close with efforts
from Connolly, Shittu, Pacquette and Williams before Orient opened
the scoring. Slack marking from Shittu presented Lee Thorpe with a
sight of goal. His shot was well parried by Digby but the ball fell
to Campbell-Ryce. Williams was nowhere to be seen as the youngster
on loan from Charlton smashed his first effort against the post then
followed up to bundle home the rebound.
Not for the first time in recent games
the defensive play of Shittu was leaving a lot to be desired. With
Palmer operating in midfield the defensive unit of Shittu and a
semi-fit
Carlisle was looking far from solid. Players often
go through a loss of form and confidence but with Shittu it is
spectacular. He has gone from an absolute colossus last season to a
mere shadow of himself. The problem will get worse the more he plays
at the minute as he doesn't look as though he will pull himself out
of it any time soon. In fact it was to get worse for him as the game
progressed.
Rangers very nearly drew level just
before the break. Richard Pacquette surged onto a through ball from
Palmer and took the ball brilliantly on his chest. He seemed to be
felled and he went for goal but the ball broke to Thomson. As he
slid in everybody was sure a goal was coming but the ball
agonisingly came back of the upright. To make matters worse Orient
went straight up the other end and scored.
Campbell-Ryce skinned Williams for the
umpteenth time and swung a deep cross over. The ball was headed back
by a mystery player obscured by the post holding the rickety stand
up and Lee Thorpe again ran off of Shittu to nod home from six
yards.
Changes were needed at half time and
Holloway looked to swing the match back in our favour by introducing
Gallen and Doudou. Pacquette and
Carlisle made way and the team reshuffled with
Palmer dropping into the back four.
Things were brighter immediately as
Gallen started to show his class from the off. He is a cut above any
other player we have on our books, including
Langley
, and it is vital that our team be built around him. Despite his
best efforts it was still proving a massive effort to get back into
this game.
Langley
wasn't providing much in the way of inspiration in the middle and
Rose alongside him was simply pitiful.
Rangers finally got on the scoresheet
with a penalty twenty minutes from time. Richard Langley had drifted
wide to find space and dribbled toward the box. As he did he was
challenged and the ref gave what looked to be a harsh penalty.
Thommo stepped up and rolled the ball confidently to the keepers
left. Minutes later the ref turned down what looked a far more clear
cut appeal when Gallen had his legs cleaned out by a scything
challenge. After the last dodgy decision the ref was never going to
give it though.
Just as Rangers had snatched back the
initiative another defensive blunder from Shittu handed Orient a
third goal. A ball swung in from the right looked like a routine
clearance for the big man but not fir the first time he made an arse
up of it. The ball was fed into the path of Gary Fletcher to fire
home from close range.
Rangers were now laying siege to the
Orient goal but it wasn't until two minutes from time that another
goal came.
Langley
fed the ball into Gallen who created a yard of space and fired a low
shot into the corner. It was no more than he deserved as he had
worked like a dog since his introduction at the break. It is a shame
a few more around him didn't share his sense of urgency.
Dennis Oli had now come on and could
so easily have snatched an injury time equaliser. He headed weakly
at goal from only six yards when he should really have done better.
Soon after the ref put us all out of our misery with the final
whistle.
This was such a disappointing night
for so many reasons. Firstly I object to being asked for £16 by
snooker spiv Barry Hearn to sit in what must be
London
's most dilapidated stadium. The place is simply a shit hole!
Secondly, the performances of all but two or three of the players
was appalling. Thirdly, I was amazed at some Rangers fans that
launched an almost constant tirade of abuse against certain players
regardless of what they were doing at the time.
We missed Bircham badly tonight and I
think he is a player that you don't really appreciate until he isn't
there. Not only does he do all of his own work he appears to do 50%
of Rose's aswell. Rose has to make way as soon as possible as he
really contributes nothing when playing like this.
If Carlisle is fit enough to manage 90
minutes then he should replace Shittu immediately. If the big man
carries on he will be sapped of all his confidence before we know
it. I like the lad, he is a centre back's centre back but I think
somebody is trying to make him play and he simply doesn't have the
ability to do so. Let him do what he does best and he might get back
to his best.
The other player we missed badly
tonight was Paul Furlong. There were too many times when the ball
was launched forward and it came straight back. When Gallen came on
he did some of the job but without his mate up there with him it
just wasn't enough.
I think we will still beat Swindon on
Saturday as we will undoubtedly make changes and the rocket that
Holloway will have given the players will still be ringing loudly in
their ears. The mark of Holloway's teams is that they do respond
well in adversity and they are going to have to do it again.
simon@qprnet.com |
